God Dictates Our Worth…Not Man

Tags

Knowing Our True Value, Life, Value, Worth

Now, I know for a fact that everyone has picked up a some money off the ground in their life. You will just be walking along and there it is. And it doesn’t matter the value of the money…you just instinctively pick it up, put it in your pocket and go about your merry way.

Have you ever stopped to consider the journey that money made to get there so you could find it? Most of us don’t. I’m sure that we do not consider the fact that the money found could have been used to pay for drugs, a prostitute, sex trafficking or stolen from someone else before being dropped.

Any money found has a story behind it, yet without knowing the story we pick up the money because we know the value of that money.

How do we know the value of said money? It’s simple, someone in high authority gave it it’s value.

So no matter if the money was found all crumpled up in a ditch and covered in mud we would still pick it up, wash it and lay it out to dry to be used

Now, take into consideration that everyone on this planet has a story…

Now, consider the fact that a higher authority, God, has given each of us value. Remember, now, that we are fearfully and wonderfully made in the image of the Creator.

How many times a day do we come in contact with people? Do we know their stories?

Probably not and even if we did know some of it, would we be willing pick them up, help dust them off and set them on their feet so they can see their value.

Think about this for a second…

What if everyone walked right past you, as if you were a leper, and never once gave you a single look or a helping hand, much less picked you up because they did not know your true value.

Would you be where you are today?

Would you be who you are today if someone had not been looking for value, even if said value was covered with mud laying in the ditch of sin?

Here’s the thing. Just as with money and the value placed upon it by said higher power so are people. Their value is not based on their past sins, their current sins, nor is it based on future sins. Their value is based on the Creator of everything that we, as people, hold dear.

And just like the money that can be picked up, washed off and used to the benefit of others so can every person on this planet.

No matter where that person has been and no matter what that person has done prior to you seeing them…they have value. That person can be picked up, cleaned by the blood of Christ, sins forgiven and led to walk in newness of life to be used by our Creator for His glory and purpose.

So next time you come across anyone, see their value through God’s eyes and heart and not the value placed on them by others. For only God can dictate our value not man!

See the true value of those broken, torn and downhearted as God does…worthy of love!

The Creator of all things fearfully, wonderfully and intricately made you. How much more value or worth can one have than that?

No one was made via a cookie cutter machine like money is!!

You are unique!

You are special!

You have value!!

 

Advertisements

Words Spoken Into My Life Have Come To Fruition

Tags

Accountability, Celebrate Recovery, Godly Friends, Integrity, Life, Memories, Testimony

This is something I wrote four years ago today and shared on my personal Facebook page. It popped up in my On This Day memory this morning and I just wanted to share it with you guys.

Those men and women who spoke to me saying I would share my story to many were right. And many of them have seen the words God gave them to speak to me come to fruition.

God continues to allow me the honor of sharing with others what He has done in my life.

I am forever thankful for the men and women that God brings into my life that not only encourage me, pray for me but sharpen my walk with God.

September 17, 2013

Thursday morning I start a part of my journey. I will be heading to Huntsville, Alabama. To give my testimony to 1 person or 1,000 people at the Wrestling For Your Life Conference that starts on Friday with wrestling great Ted DiBiase.

Now, of course, I pray that there will be a full house. But that doesn’t matter. What matters is that I go and give my testimony. To be obedient and willing to allow God to use what He has done in my life is what is important not the “amount” of people that are there.

I have had several give me a word from God that this is just the starting point for me. Several, without knowing I was doing this conference, have said Stuart, God is fixing to use you. You will be speaking in front of many groups of people sharing what has happened in your life to minister to others, including conferences.

In order for God to use me in this area of ministry outside of Facebook I must be as I am on Facebook…open, honest and real. I must be willing for God to speak through me in front of many people, not just typing it out on my phone and then posting it on one of my pages. I must be humble but yet strong. To show others that by allowing God control (humbleness) of my life I have actually become strong.

We all have testimonies.

Mine has pain, sadness, grief, addictions, lost love, health issues, sin and a ton of bad decisions yet at the same time joy, peace, love, patience, mercy, grace, freedom and a new love. The only difference between my testimony and yours is that it is mine. I have shared mine on Facebook in several forums and by the grace of God seen lives changed. I have heard testimonies that were nothing like mine but yet affected my walk with God because of what God had or is doing in that person.

Testimonies are powerful because they are real and everyone has one.

I ask just for prayer for strength as I go on stage and share what God has done and is doing in my journey to know Him.

Thanks,
Stu

Speak Life Not Death

Tags

Power of the Tongue, Proverbs 18:21, Speak Love, Words Spoken

I can not express enough how powerful that little tongue in your mouth is.

One simple word spoken in the wrong tone either out of anger or stupidity can literally destroy a person…and yet, one simple word spoken in the right tone with love can change a person’s life.

Everyone has a past. And for the most part we remember it well so we do not need someone using the wrong words to remind of our past mistakes or lifestyle.

Remember the bad words spoken into your life and the effects those words had on you. How they made you feel? How they made you see yourself as unbeautiful and unworthy.

We want encouraging words! Words that lift us up. Words that signify the positive changes we have made in our lives. Words that say we have not value and a purpose.

Speak words out of love and respect for others.

 

The Struggle Is Real

Tags

Dating, Finances, Galatians 5:17, Living Life On Life's Terms, Raising Children, Self-Worth, Struggles, Value

Guys…

I’m not perfect and have never claimed to be even remotely close. I fall daily. In some form or another I let people down, I slack on my calling, I question my self worth, I curse when I get mad and the list just keeps going and going and going.

Here lately I have been in this state of I don’t give a crap anymore and I can’t give up.

Trying to live on a single income is so hard when you have two children that require more and more as they grow older. The other day I broke down in front of my daughter as my card was declined for something she wanted. She didn’t need it mind you…it was just something she had been wanting for months. The disappointed look on her face just broke me as a dad.

I’m supposed to be the one who supplies their needs and some of their wants! And I can’t…not making what I make and bills. It sucks the life out of me sometimes and I just sink into depression and the thought of I’m not good enough.

With that said allow me to share with you what I said to dear friend of mine today as she has been trying to lift my spirits and help me realize a few things. Here is what I said…

“Even in Christ, I have a hard time understanding my value. I know I am wonderfully made and that God loves me enough to send his Son to do die for all my crap but I just can’t seem to crab onto my value….damn it.”

Sadly, as I was typing that I was getting teary eyed as I came to realize that that statement speaks volumes as to where I am at right now.

Why do our brains and our hearts fight so hard against one another?

One one hand my heart is telling me my worth and value in God’s eyes and as a person and on the other hand my brain is constantly bringing up things I have done that makes it hard to accept my value…I guess.

On one hand my heart wants to have a woman in my life again to share things with, to hold hands with and walk this journey with me and on the other my mind is telling me that I will just hurt her. Or that because you loved your last girlfriend so deeply that it is unfair to the next woman because you can’t ever love like that again. I know God’s design is that man not be alone. And I don’t want to be alone in this journey anymore but my fears hold me at bay.

On one hand my brain is telling me I need a job that pays more or I need a second job. And on the other my heart is telling me that to do so would hinder my time spent with my kids. You can’t guide and nurture them if you’re not there for them. But they need new clothes, shoes, school stuff, etc.

On one hand my heart is telling me to continue being there for the men and women who struggle with porn, because it is my calling, and on the other my mind keeps bringing back visions of things seen that I wish I had never seen when they share their struggles with me. I try so hard not to dwell on them but sometimes it’s just plain difficult.

I feel like me life is not a battlefield but rather a mine field where one wrong step blows me to smithereens.

You would think, by now, I would be use to the struggle called life. For I know my mind (the flesh) will always battle my heart (the soul). I just get so tired. And more often than not I allow it to weigh me down.

You may not be going through the same struggles I do but I do know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, we all have them. We ALL struggle and we ALL get tired at times…but we must press on and not lose hope…

We must, somehow, grasp the concept that our value in the eyes of God is not tied to our actions or thoughts but rather only by His love.

We should, somehow, come to realize that our value we see in ourselves is NOT a reflection of our past mistakes or what others see in us, what they say about us, how they act around us but rather how we fall at times and get back up and keep pressing on.

I’m not perfect, but I am NOT a failure and I have value!

The same is true of you my friends.

God Bless,
Stu

My Pneumonia Journey

Tags

Coughing, Grateful, Pneumonia, Prayers From Others, Sickness, Smoking

Hey guys, this post will be a little long as I want to share with you what happened today.

As many of you know I suffered through pneumonia from February to like May of this year with several doctor visits and oh so many pokes, prods, X-rays, CT scans and blood work. But through it all a spot remained on my right lung. So in order to determine whether it is residual bacteria from the pneumonia, cancer, or some scar tissue since I did bruise the cartilage between my ribs from coughing so much they scheduled me with a biopsy.

Today, was the day for my lung biopsy.

I arrive at the hospital around 7:30 this morning, get signed in and head to the day surgery floor. I get into my room and put on the crazy gown for hospital stays. Then the wait begins.

A nurse finally comes in to put in my IV and says the doctor will be in shortly. Well, we all know what that means…so I lay back while watching Supernatural. I am almost asleep when she comes in due to the fact I was so nervous about the procedure I didn’t sleep last night. But anyway, she says she would like to do a new X-ray to ensure that the dark spot on my lung was in fact still there. Of course, I’m in agreement.

But before she leaves she let’s me know that she does not want to do a biopsy because my lungs are so thin…they could puncture. She then says there is another procedure where they forcefully flush water into your lungs, hitting the walls. Then they would suction out the water along with the cells that come off the walls and then send the cells off to be tested. I’m like I like that one better 🙂

But…prayer works folks!

When she viewed the new X-ray she comes in and says that the mass (whatever it is) has shrunk in size and that the darkness has lessened. She then states that she wants to do a new CAT Scan to give her a better view and to compare it to the one I had done back in May.

So out with the IV, on with the clothes and down to the 2nd floor and wait. The doctor said that she would call me after viewing the results to discuss options.

She actually called while I was napping. But I called her back and she goes let’s just do a follow up CAT Scan in a month because the one from today looks amazingly well. She said it has shrunk drastically in size but because I am a smoker she still has concerns, hence the reason for the follow up.

Guys, thank you immensely for your prayers! They are being answered!!